The Legend of Symbiosis: The Soul of the Chu River Sword

The frigid waters of the Chu River cleave heaven from earth. On the northern bank, the Wolf Clan takes the ice spirit as its soul; on the southern bank, Yuntai Sect takes the fire spirit as its bones. For a hundred years, the forces of ice and fire have clashed across the river, and the blood they spill stains the plum branches of the Eighteen Peaks red. Ten years ago, after a massacre, Su Xin, the orphaned survivor of Yuntai Sect, plunged into the freezing river clutching half a sword scabbard engraved with the words “Coexistence.” From then on, a mark of interwoven ice and fire appeared on his palm. It was the secret his parents had hidden with their lives: the sword spirits of the Nine Gates of the Cold River had always been meant to let ice and fire coexist beneath the same sky. Bearing half a scabbard and a debt of vengeance for his slaughtered sect, Su Xin searches the Eighteen Peaks of the Chu River for the scattered sword spirits. Beneath Thunderclap Cliff, he encounters Jiang Xue, the Wolf Clan’s saintess. Icy blue marks shaped like frost cling to the corners of her eyes, and at her waist hangs half a wolf-head jade pendant that fits Su Xin’s scabbard perfectly. It turns out that the Wolf Clan’s saintess and Yuntai Sect’s holy son were chosen at birth to bear the “Coexistence Sword Spirit.” Though they should be mortal enemies, the two see the same vision when their sword spirits resonate: their ancestors once swore a blood oath in the Cold River Tower, using the sword spirits in an attempt to merge the forces of ice and fire within the Chu River’s ley lines. They shatter the thousand-year-old ice covering Spiritwater Pool and catch the “Wind Sword Spirit” as it is blown apart by the gale atop Thunderclap Cliff. When the Fire Sword Spirit falls into Wolf Clan territory, Jiang Xue uses her saintess bloodline to shield Su Xin from the ice wolves’ fangs. And when the Soul Sword Spirit lights up atop the Cold River Tower, the forms of their ancestors appear on the blade. The supposed feud was nothing but a scheme devised a century ago to prevent ice and fire from falling out of balance. Their true mission is to return the sword spirits to their places and rekindle the path of coexistence in the Cold River’s ley lines.